A Caribbean Trip Turns Deadly in Katherine Wood’s Thriller ‘Sunburned’ (Exclusive)

Heat up your summer with a red hot thriller from Katherine Wood.

PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at the Ladykiller author’s new novel Sunburned, arriving this summer via Bantam, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

The book follows Audrey Collet, who wants nothing more than to erase her memories of her ex-boyfriend, Tyson. Ever since his tech company made it big, Tyson has become increasingly paranoid. On top of that, the two are forever connected by an incident that left someone dead.

When a human foot washes ashore in the Everglades, Audrey has to head to Tyson’s Caribbean home, as the body part may be linked to a larger blackmail scheme that could take her down too.

As Audrey acclimates to life on the island, she starts to see Tyson’s entourage and everyone staying at his fancy estate as a suspect. It’s only a matter of time before someone else winds up dead. 

Dying to know more? Read on for an exclusive excerpt from Sunburned.

I’d just finished dressing in a strapless black jumpsuit when there was a light tap on my door, and I opened it to find Mr. Sexy Butler there with a freshly brewed espresso in hand. He’d changed into a fitted black T-shirt that somehow looked even better on him than the button-down, the tail of a tattoo peeking out beneath his sleeve. “Tyson wants you,” he said.

It was fifteen minutes before the time Tyson had specified, but I was ready. I downed the espresso, then followed Laurent into the onion-and-butter-scented kitchen, where two white-uniformed chefs were preparing our meal. On the deck overlooking the sea, one of the staff lit candles in hurricane lamps as the light bled from the evening sky.

My heart rate increased steadily as Laurent led me down the stairwell to Tyson’s private terrace, where he rapped gently on the wide wooden door. After a moment that felt like a lifetime, the door swung open, revealing the man I’d once been in love with.

He was barefoot, dressed in loose natural linen pants and a matching collarless button-front shirt, a mixture of leather and silver jewelry around his neck and wrists, his dark hair Jesus-long. And he was gaunt, his formerly tawny skin sallow, the hollows beneath his eyes giving him a haunted appearance. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a week.

I covered my shock with a smile as he ran a hand through his hair, looking me up and down without comment. “Tyson,” I said. “Good to see you.”

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When he didn’t reply, Laurent filled the silence. “Dinner will be ready at eight.”

Tyson opened the door wider and retreated into the depths of his suite without a word, leaving me to throw a distressed glance at Laurent. “Don’t take it personally,” he said quietly.

I could smell sage burning somewhere as I crossed the threshold and closed the door behind me, allowing my eyes to adjust to the gloom. Only one side of the vestibule was open, so I went that way, coming around the corner into another full kitchen open to a dining room.

A modern brass chandelier burned low above a black walnut dining table where Tyson hovered, a glass of something that looked like sludge before him.

The temperature was somewhere in the vicinity of iceberg, and goosebumps prickled my arms as I assessed him. It wasn’t just his physical appearance; his whole aura was different. Darker. Still just as magnetic, but with a heaviness that hadn’t been there before.

“Put your arms out,” he said. “I need to make sure you’re not wired.”

“Wired?” I laughed. “Would you have called me here if there was any chance I’d be wearing a wire?”

He held his ground, and I extended my arms, trying not to cringe while he felt around my torso. He paused with his hands on my back, inhaling me the way a wolf does a rabbit, and I shuddered to think I used to crave those cold hands on my body. “You’ll need to wash those harmful chemicals off your skin,” he said gruffly, letting me go.

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Gathering that he was referring to my perfume, I nodded, dropping into a dining chair. “Why am I here?”

He slid a long white envelope across the table to me. Noting it was addressed in neat block lettering to him here at Le Rêve, I lifted the flap and extracted a clipping of a newspaper article with the headline Latest Foot Identified as Missing Miami-Dade County Resident Ian Kelley.

“I’ve read this,” I said.

His eyes bored holes in me. “Why did you send it to me?”

“What?” I asked, thrown. “I didn’t send this to you.”

“Then who did?”

“I have no idea.” I placed the envelope on the table between us, shaking my head. “Wait. Is this why you called me down here?”

“You may think you have the upper hand here, but we go down together,” he growled. “What would your sons do then, huh?”

I pushed back from the table, my chair scraping over the tile as I shot to my feet. “What the hell, Tyson?” I was shaking. “I don’t want anything from you. And I didn’t send you that article. Though I do think we should talk about its contents—”

“Why, so you can record our conversation? Are you working with the feds?”

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“The feds?” I shook my head. Talk about paranoia. “I don’t know what is going on with you, but I had nothing to do with any of it. Keep your money. I’m going home. I’ll find somewhere else to stay for the night.”

Anger roiled in my veins as I stormed toward the door. To think I’d come all the way down here for him to accuse me of — what? I wasn’t even sure.

“You’re forgetting I have evidence,” he said without rising.

I spun to face him. “I know your secrets too,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Yes.” He smiled. The a——. He was actually enjoying this. “But it would be very difficult for you to spill them without implicating yourself.” 

I glared at him, cursing myself for being stupid enough to think coming here was a good idea.

He tapped the envelope. “You have five days to find out who sent this. Otherwise, I’ll have to assume it was you.”

Excerpted from SUNBURNED by Katherine Wood. Copyright © 2025 by Katherine Wood. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Sunburned will be published on July 1 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.